MixedThe Millions... it is wildly uneven—with flashes of brilliance that are too often bogged down by half-baked analysis, clunky mega-words and, most disappointing of all, muddy writing ... Russell is especially good at thumbnail historical sketches of the avarice and chicanery that made Florida possible ... Along the way we meet some engaging characters ... These people go beyond being merely colorful, all the way to perceptive and, frequently, insightful. They’re also a reminder that Russell is at his best when he gets out of his own skull and does what good reporters do: he listens. Less successful are Russell’s attempts to analyze What Florida Means ... the writing is frequently fuzzy and imprecise ... At its best moments, In the Land of Good Living is a reminder of the walking narrative’s chief virtue: it allows a writer to pass through ever-changing worlds, observing and absorbing at a leisurely pace ... In the end, Russell does arrive at some sharp insights ... I’m not giving up on...Russell because of one uneven book.
C Pam Zhang
RaveThe Millions... her gorgeously written novel deserves praise not only for its artistry but also for its attempt to fill a shameful gap: the scarcity of Chinese characters in the literature and history of the American West ... Yet Zhang’s novel is much more than a long-overdue corrective; it’s an absorbing, richly imagined account of one Chinese family scrabbling to survive the violence and racism that prevailed in the California gold fields and in the gangs that built the transcontinental railroad. How Much of These Hills Is Gold not only overdue but also vital and timely ... I’m hoping for many more novels like How Much of These Hills Is Gold : novels that breathe life into people who have gone unseen too long.
John Jeremiah Sullivan
RaveThe MillionsEvery word I say or write about John Jeremiah Sullivan’s collection of essays, Pulphead, turns instantly to mush. Yes, he’s that good. He has that rare ability to make me care deeply about things that held little or no interest before I picked up the book, including Christian rock festivals, the very real unreality of reality TV, the last surviving Southern Agrarian, Native-American cave paintings, Michael Jackson, country blues, Axl Rose, the Tea Party, and how to kill a frog and cook its legs. Sullivan has a vast range, obviously, but his success comes from something much deeper and subtler ... It addition to...gem-like observations, Sullivan gives us humor ... Sometimes the humor comes with wisdom.
Bridgett M, Davis
PositiveThe Millions... scintillating ... partly a love letter to a larger-than-life woman and partly an explanation and defense of the \'lucrative shadow economy\' of the numbers game, which was an ingenious way for African Americans to circumvent the economic barriers white society had placed in their path ... Davis doesn’t try to sugarcoat her hometown’s exhaustively documented ill ... This book, for all its abundant strengths, does have flaws. Davis writes that her mother drove a Pontiac Riviera, while GM’s Buick division produced the elegant Riviera. And she describes trips across the Ambassador Bridge to eat at Chinese restaurants in Quebec, while the Ambassador Bridge connects Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. A competent copy editor would have caught such slips, but that doesn’t mitigate the damage they do to a writer’s authority ... But such slips do nothing to dull the luster of this important book ... With her new book, Bridgett M. Davis has started running with some very fast company.
James McBride
RaveThe MillionsJames McBride has outdone himself. His new book is part memoir, part biography, part history, part journalistic investigation, and part musical exegesis. But mostly it’s a scorchingly honest examination of the racial divide that explains why America continues to be a bloody and schizophrenic place ... I already knew that McBride was a gifted writer and musician, but this book proves that he’s also a tireless shoe-leather reporter. He does the legwork, finds the right people, gets them to open up to him. These writing and reporting skills dovetail to produce some startling insights.
China Mieville
PanThe MillionsUnlike its predecessors, this novel’s world is claustrophobic, not expansive. Its characters are made of cardboard, not flesh and blood and scales and feathers. Monsters are hinted at but never seen.
